Kaweah Basin Natural Area
Map SatelliteSeveral alpine and subalpine habitats occur within this area. Much of the area is in alpine meadows or granite barrens. There are also a number of lakes in the area, many of them tarns. Rockslides are present, as well.
Approximately a third of the area is a whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis, forest. Both foxtail and lodgepole pines, Pinus balfouriana and Pinus contorta ssp. murrayana, occur in portions of the forest. Crepis nana is found in the area.
Animal life is typical of the southern High Sierra. Wolverines, Gulo luscus, have been sighted here.
On the eastern boundary of the area is the Kern Canyon, a fault-line valley. The Kern Canyon Fault, visible in the west wall of the canyon, is a post-batholithic fault and pre-dates the current Sierran block faulting. Movement along this fault has not taken place for the past 3.5 million years.
Integrity: The area is one of the more pristine in the park.
Use: Research, educational.
March 1978
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman